A few significant fights have been booked or moved to a new date over the past few days. We have Sergey Kovalev’s next opponent, Anthony Crolla, a Showtime undercard fight, and an injury forcing Billy Joe Saunders to postpone his title defense against Martin Murray until June. The boxing calendar continues to fill itself out.
- Popular British lightweight Anthony Crolla (32-6-3, 13 KOs) will be returning with a stay busy fight on the last day of the month’s upcoming Anthony Joshua versus Joseph Parker heavyweight unification show. His opponent will be little known Mexican challenger Edson Ramirez (18-2-1, 8 KOs). Crolla doesn’t figure to be threatened here as he looks to a bigger fight in the summer, but you never know for sure until the fight happens.
- Showtime’s April 7th card headlined by junior middleweight unification between Erislandy Lara and Jarrett Hurd has been expanded into a tripleheader. Julian “J-Rock” Williams (24-1-1, 15 KOs) will open the show against Jamaican contender Nathaniel Gallimore (20-1-1, 17 KOs) in an IBF eliminator. This will slot the winner in position to meet the winner of the main event. I really like this matchup as both these men are talented young fighters looking for a chance to break through.
- Billy Joe Saunders’s (26-0, 12 KOs) probably all too easy WBO title defense against fellow countryman Martin Murray (36-4-1, 17 KOs) was supposed to take place April 14th, but Saunders has suffered a hand injury. The fight has now been pushed back to June 23rd. This is disappointing not because I want to see this fight sooner, but because I want to see Saunders past this fight sooner. I don’t think Martin Murray has anything left in the tank to threaten the younger, more skilled titleholder.
- Finally, while we don’t have a date for it beyond the vague notion of “summer,” Sergey Kovalev (32-2-1, 28 KOs) has reportedly lined up and signed rising PBC contender Marcus Browne (21-0, 16 KOs) for a title defense on HBO. I really, really like this fight. Kovalev marks a massive step up for Browne without a doubt, but at the same time Marcus is a dynamic talent and I thought Kovalev looked a little vulnerable last time out against Igor Mikhalkin. I think this is a fascinating fight for both men at this stage in their careers. We will learn some things in this one. Reportedly, June or July is the target. This is a little surprising to see Browne off a PBC card, but PBC has little control over a blossoming light heavyweight division so it is nice to see Al Haymon let Marcus Browne fight on HBO to be a part of it.
